Bourbon, 'Cask Finish Series - Armagnac', Barrell Craft Spirits

• Limited release blend of straight bourbon whiskeys sourced, blended, finished, and bottled by Barrell Craft Spirits in Louisville, Kentucky • The 6th release in the BCS Cask Finish Series • Composed of a blend of straight bourbon whiskeys distilled and aged in Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee • Derived mash bill of 78% corn, 18% rye, and 4% malted barley • Aged a minimum 7 years with whiskeys up to 15 years old • Final blend of component whiskeys is finished in Kentucky in Armagnac casks for 3–6 months • 6000 bottles produced • A striking deep amber in color, this whiskey offers a fleeting note of fresh pineapple before deepening into darker tones of cola, dried fruits, and roasted nuts with a hint of grape soda to remind you about the Armagnac finish. On the palate, orange peel, hazelnut, black walnut, tobacco, and chocolate-covered espresso beans run toward a liqueur-like sweetness that is kept in check by an edge of oak tannin and proof heat. Hard spice and dark tea notes frame a finish that—despite that heat—offers a lingering richness that smacks of pecan pie with vanilla ice cream. • Non-chill filtered; bottled at a cask strength of 56.5% ABV Armagnac remains woefully underappreciated in the US, but luckily, the team at Barrell has taken up the cause in the way they work best—by blending a handsome selection of aged bourbons and finishing the blend in an Armagnac cask. The cask both complements the blend’s bolder fruit and spice characteristics and creates a delicious harmony, burnishing the rustic elegance into something much more. Robust, elegant, complex—it’s a dose of sweet Kentucky with a rakish Gascon grin.